Brisbane - HOT! not the city so much but it is HOT - Nothing compared to NZ. We went to see the city, really nice by night actually. There is also an artificial beach in the middle of the city, but we needed to wait a bit longer to enjoy the REAL beach in...Hervey Bay. Well, let`s say a taster. We arrived after 6 hours drive and stayed in the Woolshed Backpackers, a really nice hostel, although we arrived late and were locked out - plus the fact that we were hungry and tired caused Mel to curse the hostel, but after a bit we found the key...and we also found a "possum" in our room. A real one. At first we thought it`s outside, but we were wrong. The second night we stayed awake just in case it would attack us. But I think it was more scared than we were.
From Hervey Bay we went to Fraser Island, WOW! We booked a 2 days tour with a cool guide who has been living at Fraser for about 35 years. We got to see Lake McKenzie (superclean rainwater, you could drink it and my hair felt like I went to the hairdresser!), Lake Wabby (totally cool, felt like Leonardo di Caprio in THE BEACH) and a few other things such as Coloured Sands and Indian Heads (great views...no sharks but big waves!).
We stayed in a really nice resort and got good food (we felt like on holidays for the first time I think!) and apart from the very nasty mosquito bites (we looked like we have some kind of illness!), we had a fab time on the island...
We then headed to Noosa Heads, gosh we wished we stayed there longer as it was great. High waves, nice place to stay (even with a bathroom in the room! How posh...). After only a day, we then headed to Byron Bay, a bit eco and hippie, but well, if you go to Australia, I guess this is it:) The hostel called Arts Factory Lodge has their own brewery, pool, hammocks etc., but also lots of party people - we as a couple felt old and boring and even got told to "live a little" (??Well, we are just on a world tour now so I think we do!) But this is what you get when you are over 25 and everybody is under 20:) Anyway, we got a bit sunburnt as well, but we should not complain as it has still minus degrees in Germany.
After this rather embarassing (or "we-are-not-18-years-old-anymore") stay we took an overnight bus to Syndey:
Great city, we had about 3 full days there and we really could have spent a few days more. The opera (although the story is a bit sad, as the architect never got to see his work at the end) is great and felt a little bit like you see the Eiffel Tower for the first time. We also did a free sightseeing tour and went to the lovely districts Glebe (a bit like northern quarter in Manchester!) and took the ferry to Manly. Really nice day trips and worthwhile! We slept at the airport on the way to Tasmania and were a little bit stoned once we arrived (not literally!). We were both really fascinated about Virgin Blue (so everyone should fly with them if you get the chance), cool airline.
So - Tasmania or Tassie. No words left for this beautiful spot of land. The "cities" felt a bit like my little town in Germany, as a so-called "city" is everything from around 10.000 people and a "town" can be everything from one person.
The landscape absolutely stunning. We rented a car for 4 days (and converted it to our living room, dining room and bedroom) and went all the way from Hobart, the capital, to Port Arthur (historic site), where we did a ghost tour, Freycient National Park (Wineglass Bay really stunning as well as the Wineglass Beach), and all the way up to Launceston.
From there we went to Pipers Brook where we did (a few:)) winetastings, yummie!! We could get used to this ceremony every day!! We also went to a strawberry picking farm and had one of the best (apart from the ones my grandma grows!) strawberries ever! We also went to Cradle Mountain, absolutely beautiful spot and went all the way back through forest, giant trees to Russel Falls in Mt Field National Park. We did another wine tasting in the Cole River Valley next to Richmond and checked out the oldest bridge in Tassie. In Tassie you can do 1000 nice little shortwalks on the way and you feel like you need to stop every few minutes, but we drove around 1300 km in 4 days....Tassie has also nice coffee bars, great tarts!
All in all we had a great time and it was probably the best time we had in Australia. Tasmania has everything if you like nature, wildlife and sleeping in your car:)From Hobart we flew to Melbourne where we arrived 5 days ago. Gosh - this city is THE city, our favorite so far, really got everything from cool bars, great nightlife and cafes, a beach, lots of arty districts and architecture. We totally fell in love with it. We also met Jackie (Mel`s ex-colleague from MIF), was great seeing someone familiar:) We did a few FREE city tours (that s also good about Melbourne), we checked out the Botanic Gardens, Federation Square and of course the Queen Victoria Markets, great food and cheap souvenirs! We also went to St Kilda (beach) and to a few nice districts but the highlight was the Great Ocean Road.
We rented a car (again) and used it (again) as everything but a car: sleeping, eating, chilling out. Anyway - the drive there (about 3-4 hours from Melbourne) is absolutely stunning. The highlight of the the road is of course, the 12 Apostles (although there are only 9 visible), but also the The Arch, the Thunder Cave and London Bridge are worth seeing. We also spotted some koalas (they are sooo cute!!) hanging in eucalyptus trees and we also saw penguins wobbling back to their cave after sunset. A great 24 hour trip!!
And that s the end (of Australia!) - from tomorrow it s all about Asia, starting with Singapore, which means we finally can afford a dinner instead of cooking supermarket food, what a luxury!!
MEL & RAF aka. the Fast and the Furious
